One gracious reader read and replied, “I was raped by a guy when I was 22 I would judge him and say he needs help…because he did. (He victimized) 5 other women…but he is and was aware of what he was doing so I wouldn’t feel sympathy.”

As someone who has never experienced a rape I cannot begin to grasp the depth of how that would affect a victim, all I can say is “Wow, thank you you for your humble willingness to add your perspective to our dialogue.”

The “dropout” whose pot-smoking parents never challenge him. The “skeeze” whose dad did more hopping than Frogger. The “gamer” whose parents never expected anything from him. The “slut” whose dad, step-dad, 2nd step-dad, and mom’s before all left.

“For your own good.” That’s the kinda phrase that adults used to get me to do something I didn’t want to do without explaining all the details for me. Why they undoubtedly had wonderful reasons that “for your own good” was sufficient, inquisitive minds like mine were never satisfied.

While some people might have chosen to use their good judgement or “common sense” to avoid such mishaps, I did not.

Ignoring “for your own good” warnings was a choice, but ignoring “for your own good” has left me with many scars to prove my unwillingness to heed the “for your own good” warnings.